Srinivasulu, a farmer from Alur, Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, in April 2021, harvested a new rice wide variety Pusa Samba 1850 designed by Indian Agricultural Study Institute (IARI) with a yield of close to four tonnes for each hectare.
The new wide variety is an enhanced model of Pusa Samba Mahsuri (BPT 5204) which has been extensively cultivated by farmers in southern as well as eastern elements of the place. Pusa Samba Mahsuri wide variety is primarily developed in the course of the Samba period (November-March) in the South and has a considerable share in the country’s non-basmati rice exports. The wide variety is characterised by medium slender grain and very good cooking good quality.
No pesticides
Sudheer Agarwal, a farmer from Bhurekha village of Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, is upbeat about the potential customers of using up a new non-Basmati wide variety – Pusa Samba 1850 in the forthcoming kharif period.
Agarwal mentioned that the key reason for using the non-basmati rice wide variety designed by IARI is bigger yield and virtually absence of pesticide use. During the previous two many years of discipline demonstration across the place, farmers like Srinivasulu and Agarwal have bought an typical yield in the vary of four-7 tonnes/ha.
The Pusa Samba 1850 wide variety designed by IARI — an enhanced model of Samba Mahsuri (BPT 5204) — a wide variety is at this time remaining developed across Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Bihar on close to one.5 million hectares.
Having said that, Samba Mahsuri is really vulnerable to blast sickness which causes considerable yield and good quality losses.
For controlling the sickness, farmers have been making use of additional pesticides alongside with incurring bigger labour price tag, besides owning an adverse effect on the setting.
Samba Mahsuri was unveiled in 1989 by Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural College, Hyderabad for business cultivation.
Having said that, with a breeder seed indent of forty two.eight quintals for Kharif 2022, Samba Mahsuri remains a common wide variety among farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
“There are close to 320 rice types in the nationwide seed chain at current, of which only 25 types have a breeder seed-indent of additional than 40 quintals.
“ Despite Samba Mashuri remaining, additional than three a long time old wide variety it even now occupies 24th position in the nationwide breeder seed indent which is testimony to its acceptance,” Gopala Krishnan S, Principal Scientist, IARI, mentioned.
According to Krishnan S of IARI, who is the mind driving enhancement of Pusa Samba 1850, the wide variety has been designed making use of a Marker Assisted Range-derived blast resistant as a result of insertion of three governing resistance to blast sickness genes – Pi54, Pi1 and Pita.
This gene fortification will help ward off the fatal bacterial blight.
Better yield
The Pusa Sambha – 1850 wide variety of rice went as a result of discipline trials at net blast very hot places in the place this kind of as Malan / Palanpur (Himachal Pradesh), Jammu, Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh), Nellore (Andhra Pradesh), Gudalur (Tamil Nadu), Lonavala (Maharashtra), Ponnampet (Karnataka) & Hazaribagh (Jharkand).
In a huge-scale discipline demonstration, in Kharif 2019 executed across Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the new rice wide variety had supplied an typical yield of six.56 tonnes/ha. In Shidenur of Raichur district of Karnataka, the typical yield was close to nine.3 tonnes/ha.
In the discipline demonstration executed at the farmers’ discipline in the course of Kharif period of 2020, the yield of Pusa Samba 1850 ranged amongst 5.5 and eight tonnes across Chemmangudi and Krishnagiri (Tamil Nadu), Shahjanhanpur and Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), Ganagavathi (Karnataka) and Cuttack (Odisha).
The function was to get volumes for millers and traders to further more assess its prospective among millers and shoppers.
“Pusa Sambha 1850, is a blast resistant enhanced model of Sambha Mahshuri (BPT 5204), the most traded rice wide variety in the non-Basmati section. It will further more reinforce non-Basmati exports which have crossed 13 million tonnes in the course of 2020-21, the optimum in the historical past of rice export,” Ashok Singh, Director, IARI mentioned.
Breeder seed
In the upcoming two many years, a huge-scale cultivation of the new wide variety is envisioned to consider location.
At present, breeder seed is equipped to private businesses and NGOs for multiplication. IARI has signed an MOU with Hyderabad-based mostly Eldorado Agri-tech Personal Ltd for multiplications of seeds.
The breeder seed has been delivered by IARI for multiplications into foundation seeds and accredited seeds in the forthcoming kharif period.
According to an agriculture ministry official, by 2022, huge scale business cultivation of Pusa Sambha 1850 rice wide variety is envisioned which would not only improve India’s non-basmati rice exports potential customers but also minimize price tag of production for farmers for the reason that of bigger yield and minimal price tag for pesticides.
According to Agricultural and Processed Foods Products Exports Progress Authority (APEDA), the non-basmati rice exports rose sharply in 2020-21 the two in conditions of quantity and price when compared to previous yr (2019-20).
The quantity of non-basmati rice exports rose by 159 for each cent to 13.08 million tonnes (mt) in 2020-21 when compared to previous yr when price of exports jumped by 137 for each cent to $four,796 million from $two,020 million documented in previous yr.
Sandip Das is a Delhi-based mostly author on agriculture and meals safety. Views are individual.